Archive for the ‘Fall Events’ Category

The Smithsonian Magazine has compiled a list of the 20 Best Towns To Visit in 2013 and Hanover, NH ranks as LUCKY 13. Towns in the running had to have a population of less than 15,000 and a significant concentration of music, the arts, historic sites and other cultural attractions. And it didn’t hurt to have an institution of higher learning nearby. So why Hanover, NH? Let’s start with Dartmouth College, founded in 1769 to train Native Americans as missionaries. It has become one of the most prestigious current Ivy League educational institutions. There is music, theater, museums, art galleries – some associated with the college and others in the surrounding communities. The Orozco murals, located in Baker Library, has just received the National Landmark designation and last year the Dartmouth Aires came in second on NBC’s The Sing-Off. You can shop at quaint bookstores, eat at restaurants that pride themselves on their farm to table offerings, canoe or kayak on the Connecticut River, ski on the hills of NH & VT and,if you are so inclined, hike a segment of the Appalachian Trail. We feel the air is cleaner, the grass is greener and the water is purer. And if that is not enough, then how about the Enfield Shaker Museum, the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum or the Saint Gaudens National Historic Site? So set your sights on a visit to the Upper Connecticut River Valley, stay at Breakfast on the Connecticut and enjoy the ambiance of a stay in one of America’s best small towns.

On March 11, 2013 the Secretary of the Interior designated the Orozco Murals one of 13 new National Historic Landmarks. National historic landmarks are nationally significant historic places that possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. Jose Clemente Orozco was an srtist in-residence at Dartmouth between 1932 and 1934. It was during this time he created The Epic of American Civilization, comprised of 24 individual panels or “scenes” that span approximately 3200 square feet. The Orozco mural is housed in the former reserve corridor of Baker Library now called the Orozco Room. This is a can’t miss treasure when visiting Dartmouth College. Stay at Breakfast on the Connecticut, visit the Orozco exhibit and in your travels don’t forget the Hood Museum.

Since 1961 the Hanover Conservancy has created, maintained and managed a series of trails in the Upper Valley. Trails such as Balch Hill, Mink Brook and Greensboro Ridge have been enjoyed by so many Upper Valley residents and visitors. In June 2011, another property came into being – the Nan & Allen King Bird Sanctuary. The land was once pasture for the Hayes Farm and can be reached by parking at the Etna Library, walking across a field to enter, hiking a mowed trail and coming to rest on a stone bench in the meadow. You will enjoy a view over the Mink Brook valley while you sit and (if you brought one) eat your picnic lunch. Make sure you stop to identify crabapple, hawthorn or nannyberry just to mention a few. We will give you a card with all 8 flowering bushes that are there. And don’t forget the birds – you may see a Black-and-White Warbler, a Common Yellowthroat or maybe even the seldom seen Wilson’s Warbler. The days are getting warmer and spring fever will hit and you will want to smell the fresh air and feel the warmth of the spring sun on your face. Stay at Breakfast on the Connecticut, have a great breakfast and then take a sandwich and explore the King Bird Sanctuary. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Quinatucquet is a Native American word meaning “at the long estuary” and given to a body of water known as “the Nile of New England”. Breakfast on the Connecticut sits on the banks of this river also the longest river in New England. Yes, it is the Connecticut River flowing over 360 miles from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound. Once described by the New York Times as ” the Nation’s best landscaped sewer”, the Connecticut River, through the passage of the Clean Water Act and the investment of millions of dollars from government and the private sector, has been reclaimed for our nation to explore and, better still, play in. Along its banks there are large archeological sites, including one in Claremont NH settled by Native Americans around 800 AD. There are ten bridges that traverse the Connecticut that are registered with the National Register of Historic Places including the Cornish-Windsor Bridge, the longest covered bridge in the United States. About 20 miles after the Cornish-Windsor covered bridge you can glide by the Fort at #4 in Charlestown, NH where on an August morning in 1754 a band of Indians broke into the home of Captain James Johnson and took captive the Captain, his 24-year old pregnant wife and their three children, ages 6, 4 & 2 and set off on a trek to Canada. The reclaimed Connecticut has once again become the life-line for commerce, agriculture, industry as well as energy production, irrigation, manufacturing and multiple recreational uses. Ninety-nine cities, towns & villages border its length. Thirty-five colleges and universities on its banks provide an unprecedented representation of higher learning. Agriculture is still at work on 11% of the Connecticut’s land providing a ready source of locally grown foods. You can swim – cross the Connecticut from bank to bank in many places and you have swum from NH to VT – fish and boat, best done by canoe, kayak or pontoon. The Connecticut River and the Valley is one of the last water places that is still underdeveloped and wildly beautiful. So come spend some time at Breakfast on the Connecticut, take a canoe out in the morning fog and experience the “mighty Connecticut, the first of America’s great rivers and in many ways the last.”

A special Upper Valley treat can be found at the Hanover Conservancy’s Greensboro Ridge Natural Area. This is a 113 – acre protected property home to numerous wildflowers not to mention barred owls, broad-winged hawks, ruffed grouse as well as warblers, vireos and numerous other small birds. The ledges and stone ridges are also home to bear, mink, fisher, raccoon, deer and fox. Keep your eyes peeled for the tracks as you walk along the trail. Harder to find are the natural area’s nine vernal pools which are necessary breeding grounds for salamanders and frogs. To reach Greensboro Ridge, take Route 10 to Route 120. Turn left onto Greensboro Road and left to Velvet Rocks Drive and park at the trailhead at the top of the drive. Find a trail map at Greensboro Ridge. This is a well kept Upper Valley secret and May & June are a great time to explore it.

Start with the Dimick House on Dorchester Road which was mail ordered from Sears in 1924 at a cost of $2,473. It is a two-story frame and clapboard structure and one of the last houses to use sawn lumber from Sanborn Mill. Just a note – this is a private home and not open for touring.

Other interesting buildings include the Lyme Center Baptist Church (1830), the Lyme Center Store (1876) and the Lyme Center Academy (1839) that houses the local historical society known as the Lyme Historians. The museum is open on Tuesday from 9 – noon. A tour booklet is available for a modest charge from the Lyme Historians.

The Beal House, also on Dorchester Road, has two granite steps with bootscrapers, built into the steps, at the entrance.

It’s a glorious summer day, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and it’s the weekend. You want to get out and have some fun. It’s the perfect type of day to be outside, commune with nature, paddle a kayak around a lake – but you don’t know how. You are in luck because LL Bean’s Kayak Discovery Series allows you to walk into the West Lebanon, NH store and sign-up for an hour-and-a-half kayak instruction for $20 on Storrs Pond in Hanover, NH. LL Bean will supply the kayak, the paddle, the PFD, and take care of all your personal valuables. Class size ranges from 1 to 14 people and there are typically two instructors per class. The class consists of 20 – 30 minutes of dry land instruction, including determining who goes into which boat, what paddle size is needed, securing PFDs (personal flotation device), as well as instruction on how to hold the paddle and paddling techniques. Students will then hit the water in their kayaks for an hour of paddling around on Storrs Pond. LL Bean’s Discovery Series runs through Saturdays from May 26 to September 22 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and on Sundays from July 1 through August 26 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. What do you have to lose? Be prepared to get a little wet.

On October 13, 2011 the University of Georgia hosted a special event for their meal plan and community guests. It was called “A Sunset Breakfast – Dawn Inspired Dishes Served at Dusk” and was planned to give their students the dining experience of breakfast at Bed and Breakfast establishments throughout the United States. The menu featured 21 recipes from prominent B&B locations including Apple Cheddar Bread Pudding from Breakfast on the Connecticut. My recipe was adapted by the University’s chefs and food production teams in order to serve the 8700 students who dine there daily. The amount of ingredients used was staggering including 13 cases of apples, 317 loaves of bread, 67 gallons of maple syrup, and 181 pounds of cheddar cheese, just to name a few. I am so glad I do not have to fed those numbers on a daily basis and I commend the University of Georgia Food Services team.

Located on Main Street in Lyme, NH, Long River Studios sits filled with the creative offerings of local artists & crafters. A volunteer-run cooperative, Long River was formed in 1991 to try to connect local artists & crafters with the local community and help them make a living. Currently, Long River represents 75 artists and crafts people from a wide sampling of medium. Within its walls, you will find sculpture, photography, jewelry, needlework, painting and basketry just to highlight a few. Long River Studios is open year round and hosts three annual exhibits. Long River Studios is one of the focal points for the village of Lyme and once though its doors you get a feel for the New Hampshire region known as the Upper Valley. If you stay at Breakfast on the Connecticut stop by Long River and pick up that one of a kind holiday gift.

It has been called a “hockey stick hike” with a long gradual walk followed by a short steep uphill. It is an easy day trip, or a multi-day stay for backpackers on the Appalachian Trail. You don’t have to be a long-distance hiker to enjoy Smarts Mountain and it all starts in Lyme, NH. From the center of Lyme, follow the signs for the Dartmouth Skiway to the east. Just before the Skiway take the left branch which is Dorchester Road. A small parking lot is on the left, just before the iron bridge over Grant Brook. Orange signs mark the trailhead. From the parking lot you have a choice, the Ranger Trail or the Lambert Ridge Trail (the present Appalachian Trail route). Both get to the same spot in 3 miles and then climb together the last .6 mile to the summit. The views into the Upper Valley and out to the White Mountains from the summit of Smarts Mountain are stunning. And what better time to hike than in the fall – Mother Nature’s patchwork quilt will be laid out for you in all its glory. Stay at Breakfast on the Connecticut and we will direct you to the trailhead – give us enough advance notice and we can pack a picnic lunch for you.